BNI South Africa, through the BNI Misner Charitable Foundation offer support and sponsorship to charity. One of the major project’s we contribute towards is the promotion and publication of “First Words in Print” an initiative undertaken by the Centre for the Book.

“First Words In Print” aims to encourage South African writers, illustrators and publishers to produce appropriate literature for children aged 0 to 6. They plan to distribute sets of picture books in all South Africa official languages to target children, mainly in the rural areas. This would facilitate in encouraging a culture of reading within the communities where the project is implemented and contribute toward the early literacy development of very young children. As well as help build a common culture of literature for future generations, and thereby contribute towards nation building. This is a remarkable venture which has the potential to change the direction of many marginalsed children’s lives.

In March 2003 the management of FWIP asked the two independent researchers, Angela Schaffer and Kathy Watters, who had undertaken the Baseline Study, to conduct a formative evaluation of FWIP’s first book delivery, and distribution, in the four pilot area: maphotla, Montagu’s Gift, Mount Ayliff and Rammulotsi. In addition, Angela and Kathy were asked to gather information on what happened to the FWIP books since distribution. FWIP were encouraged to find that between September 2002 and April 2003, 77% of the packs (four books per pack) had been distributed.

Throughout the pilot phase, the project has made extensive use of busy volunteers both in its management structure and the four pilot areas. Distribution to rural areas was fraught with problems, with transport having a major impact. In some areas, due to limited resources and few distributors, the books would lie at the local post office for several months. And, as so often happens in South Africa, “Boer maak ‘n plan”,” ingenious ways of distribution were implemented, and more than a few wheelbarrows where instrumental in getting the books from Post offices out to households and schools.

The Baseline Study had showed that majority of children had little or no exposure to books as few households and schools had libraries or such, and the reading landscape was totally bleak. The few pre-schools which did have collections, tended to be unsuitable Euro-centric stories written in English. Less than a year later, 7701 FWIP sets, written in the children’s own language had been distributed to households and early childhood development centres as well as to a few libraries and clinics, across the four pilot areas.

Although it was too early to make any impact claims, and the scale of research did not allow for the accurate quantification of responses across large numbers of households, it is indisputable that many more children are handling, hearing, looking at, and enjoying the four books than was imaginable at the time of the Baseline Study. The publication of the books in the local languages was especially well received in the predominantly African areas. Besides the huge steps forward in getting very young children exposed to illustrated and printed stories for the first time, and ensuring that their first meaningful encounters with books are pleasurable, children were seen unconsciously using a rich variety of pre-literacy skills.

Despite being overly ambitious in both range and scale, the FWIP pilot project has been successful in many important respects. It resulted in benefits to publishers, printers, a large number of pre schools, two libraries in neglected communities, and of course, at least 7701 children. Children, who previously had never owned a South African produced story book, now have four.

You can find out more about ‘First Words In Print” at www.centreforthebook.org.za/projects/books